Warmest March since measurements began: Temperature record broken for 18th month in a row

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March is the warmest month since measurements began in Germany

Photo: Matthias Bein / dpa

The temperature anomalies don't stop: After the warmest February since measurements began in 1881, March 2024 also brought a temperature record in Germany. The average temperature was 7.5 degrees Celsius and was therefore 4 degrees Celsius above the value of the internationally valid reference period from 1961 to 1990, as the German Weather Service (DWD) announced after an initial evaluation.

Compared to the current and warmer comparison period from 1991 to 2020, the increase was 2.9 degrees Celsius. This also significantly exceeded the previous record value from 2017 (7.2 degrees Celsius). According to the DWD, the last time there were two consecutive monthly records was in 2018, in April and May.

Overall, March was the 18th month in a row that was too warm compared to the reference period 1961-1990. Meteorologists are watching this trend with concern. »Climate change continues unabated. We have to intensively engage in climate protection and adapt to the damage caused by weather extremes,” explained Tobias Fuchs, DWD Board Member for Climate and Environment in the annual balance sheet for 2023 in December.

The trend of persistently high temperatures is also evident worldwide: According to the EU climate change service Copernicus, the global average temperature was consistently one and a half degrees above the reference value in the 19th century for one year. Celeste Saulo, the head of the World Weather Organization (WMO), spoke of “red alert” at the end of March when she published the final annual balance sheet for 2023.

»Climate change is about much more than temperatures. “What we have experienced in 2023, particularly the unprecedented warming of the oceans, the retreat of glaciers and the loss of Antarctic sea ice, is of particular concern,” said Saulo.

Summery temperatures on the first weekend in April

The DWD is predicting summer temperatures for next weekend. Experts expect temperatures of at least 25 degrees in most regions of the country. In some regions it could get even warmer with temperatures up to 29 degrees.

However, heat waves like this are nothing unusual for April, but they are also "the upper spectrum of what April offers," explains a DWD expert. The reason for the possible high temperatures is warm air from the Mediterranean and southwestern Europe, which is being pushed into Germany by the low pressure areas over Western Europe and the Atlantic.

sug/dpa